sudhir patwardhan encounter

i really enjoyed the work that simply recorded the everyday landscapes of the city. the ‘here and now’ as it were. a thoroughly enlightening encounter today where sudhir patwardhan traced the history of indian art in broad brush strokes from early pre colonial approaches to define indian identity, to the explorations of the self and sublime space. the work that really meant something to me was the work of the artists from the 70s and 80s, looking at the urban everyday and struggling with the problems of representing it- bhupen khakkars irony and patwardhans, i don’t know.. romanticism(?).i really don’t know yet about other artists’ recent work that makes statements about global political issues- i am not able to connect to them yet. the ‘issue’ somehow seems forced.

the questions from the students were, not surprisingly considering the non-criticality that seems to have overrun the school in recent years, merely about the role of art to reach out to mass consumption. why make things obscure and difficult, complex and deep rather that ‘message’ art in easy to consume capsules? or as a second year student asked ‘what is the use of art?’

patwardhans answers were well measured, logical and gentle – to learn, to know, to feel and to imagine through associations and empathy; art as an exploration of oneself, when talking about his recent more inward looking work, and also as a mode of reaching out.